Stepping Stones take 2
by kaztsar
Summary: Mistaken for a princess, and becoming a ninja by necessity, Ranma and his father look for a way home, but... is it already too late? This is a redo from the original.
1. Chapter 1

If there was one thing Ranma was certain of, it was being dead really sucked.

Given a choice, Ranma would definitely say, "Life sure beats being dead," and would no doubt choose the former over the latter.

Death for Ranma, was like hell itself, worse, it was boring. He couldn't talk to anyone, couldn't touch anyone, couldn't even hit anyone. They couldn't hear him even though he went up to their ears and screamed as loud as he could. Everytime he took a swing at someone, his fist would just go right through them.

The first couple of days of this was pure horror. Now... it was just boredom, which, if he was asked, was infinitely worse. At least, dead, his curse was finally cured! No ghost girl for him, which would have really sucked, considering he wouldn't have been able to boil any water.

Yes, being dead sucked. At least he could still train. Even dead, he could still get stronger, but what was the point, really? If there were more dead people around, he would have seen them by now, right? Instead, he was watching his father drink himself to an early grave.

He didn't think the old man would take it so hard, maybe he just saw his life's investment disappear? No, nomatter how Ranma wanted to spin it, his father really did care for him. He may have been a low-life cheating dishonerable thief, but yeah... Genma really did care about him after all. It was already at that point where Genma didn't really cared if he died or not.

This was what worried Ranma. Genma was actually making some progress to turning his life around to become somewhat half decent. He had a job, actually making a decent living out of teaching too, he planned on opening up his own dojo since they found out getting back home was near impossible, and being a ninja actually suited him too. He was... actually kinda respected in this village for his skills (especially his skills in deception and misdirection...)

Damnit, why did he have to die at this time? His father could have been... would have been the person Ranma always wanted him to be!

* * *

Stepping Stones __Chapter 1

About a year and a half earlier...

Gai brought his genin team over to training ground #38. They may have been a relatively new genin team, but Gai could tell that the flames of youth were burning brightly in them. Even the Hyuuga had his will of fire burning deep within his very, even though he tried to hide it behind his arrogance and his sourpuss face.

They have only gone out on a few D-rank missions, but already his student, Rock Lee was showing great promise. He had recently given Lee his first set of ankle weights, soon he shall receive his wrist weights, though much to Lee's protests. It was good that Lee's flame of youth was burning brightly, but like a flame, if you add too much wood too fast, the wood will extinguish said flame. Too much training too soon, could be more of a detriment if not paced just right. Admittedly though, Lee has already exceeded his greatest expectations.

"Lee, if you can run around the training ground 50 times backwards on your hands, tomorrow, I will give your first set of wrist weights."

"Yosh, Gai-sensei, if I cannot run around this training ground 50 times backwards on my hands blindfolded, I will do 500 squats and 1000 lunges," Lee exclaimed running off deeper into the forest surrounding Konoha.

"Tenten, you shall be doing some target practice whilst Neji and I spar!"

"Hai, Gai-sensei, what is my target," asked his young blossoming student, Tenten.

"Why, Neji, and myself, of course," laughed Gai.

"Wha?!?"

"You will use blunted kunai and shiruken of course!"

[insert snide comment by Neji here]

Team Gai had only been practicing for a few minutes when they heard a yell.

"Gai-sensei! Come quick! I need you!"

Not knowing what to expect, the rest of team Gai approached ready for anything. Rather, almost anything. They weren't expecting to see Lee kneeling down, with his arms around an unconscious girl, a panicked look clearly on his face. "She's cold, Gai-sensei! What do we do? What do we do?" said Lee with a panicked expression.

Gai rushed over to the unconcious girl, putting a hand on her forehead. She was cold, but she was still breathing. Looking around, he saw a bear in a similar situation, it looked like a pet of some sort. "Lee, take the girl to the hospital. I'll take her bear to the vet. Neji, Tenten, search the area and investigate the possible cause. We'll all meet back at the hospital!"

"Yes!" They all shouted.

"Lee, remove your weights, time is of the essence," said Gai as he picked up the bear in a fireman's carry.

Lee was already gone, and Gai left after.

Neji and Tenten didn't really need to look much. In the makeshift campsite was a pot of stew, with still some herbs and roots off to the side. "Neji, look, she tried to cook with milkweed. My dad uses the extract sometimes as a paralysis sometimes for our senbon needles. The medics will need to know this," said Tenten.

"Bring the pot with you, in case she might have used other stuff. I'll meet up with Gai at the vet's to update him, then we'll meet up with you at the hospital!" With that, they disappeared as well.

Lee, while cradling the red-headed girl who was lying limply in his arms, raced across Konoha. She was cold, but he could still feel her breathing shallowly. "No!" he yelled to himself in his mind, "She cannot die in the springtime of her youth! The fire in her heart is not ready to be extinguished. Yosh!"

Doors would take too long. There was a faster way. He curled inwards, protecting his charge, and ran head first through the hospital wall.

Mednins, thinking it may be some sort of attack on the hospital, fell into ready stances. Lee rushed towards one mednin, who flinched initially thinking it might have been some sort of attack. "The fire of her youth is fading, you have to do something!" Lee pleaded.

The mednin quickly took the girl Lee was carrying in his arms, and rushed her off to one of the examination rooms.

An old lady with a stern look, stopped Lee before he had the chance to follow, "Exactly what where you thinking, young man?"

Tenten wasn't that far behind Lee, and seeing the ready made entrance, that she deduced must have been Lee's doing (it was kinda Lee-shaped, after all... ), quickly entering the hospital.

Lee was apparently being reprimanded at the moment, Tenten quickly approached him, "Lee, where's the girl? She poisoned herself with milkweed!" Tenten said as she held up the pot.

"They took her down the hall!" Said Lee, as he decided this was the perfect opportunity to get away from the creepy old lady.

"Hey! Come back here! Who's going to pay for all this," shouted the stereotypical stern head nurse chasing after them.

* * *

As the admonished team left the Hokage's office after giving their incident report, and a semi-reasonable excuse on why the hospital needed a new window, they noticed a man that looked far worse for the wear. He wore no forehead protector, nor vest denoting rank. In fact, his clothes were nothing more then tattered rags clutching onto his body through nothing more then sweat and will power. He brushed back his greasy hair with a hand full of battered knuckles before he noticed Gai's team.

"Ah, Gai-sempai! This must be your new genin team," said the dark skinned stranger, who was obviously a foreigner even if he was familiar with Gai.

"Ah, Ibn, it is good to see you safe and sound back in Kohona where you belong! We feared that the fires of your youth had been extinguished when we haven't heard from you during your last check-in date over 2 months ago!"

Ibn just sighed, "I'm afraid my mission suddenly went sour."

Gai frowned, "Was your cover blown? Could Iwagakure have traced it back to us?"

Ibn just shook his head, "Worse, I got caught in bed with the Tsuchikage wife. I now got about a dozen or so stone-hunternins after my ass," Ibn then gave Gai a grin, "or, should I say they're after Tsu Hitogari's ass," which started Ibn laughing.

"You were using a head then?"

Ibn stopped laughing, "I think it would be best if you stayed as far away from Iwa as possible," Gai said as he patted Ibn on the shoulder.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea."

"Another good idea would be a shower," murmured Neji.

"Yeah, spend two months in the wilderness and we'll see how rosy you smell, kid." grumbled Ibn.

Ibn turned back to Gai, "Well, time to turn in my report," he said, patting Neji on the back, leaving a redish brownish handprint.

"Who was that, sensei?" asked Tenten as they started walking out of the Hokage's tower.

"Ah, that was Ibn a'Nefeez, a sp. jounin of the leaf. He just graduated the Academy around the time I made chuunin. I worked with him on occasion before my ANBU service."

* * *

Ranma woke up to beeping sounds, and needles stuck in her. It wasn't the first time, she trained under her father after all. Ranma blinked, trying to get accustomed to the light before looking around.

Apparently, she was in a room all by herself. Well, that made things all the more easier for her. She removed the moniters and the needles, as Ranma rolled off the bed. She felt a little dizzy after that, but got up none the less, using the bed for balance. She staggared towards the window, looking at the city around her. It was pretty big, made it all the more easy to get lost.

As she was looking out at the window, a bunch of people stormed the room, speaking in some weird language. Great, thats all she needed. Stuck in a hospital room, with no money, in a foreign country. She just hoped that someone spoke Japanese.

* * *

Coming soon, to a crossover fanfic archive near you...

"Hmmm, nothing very good here," he said, while munching on some chips.

"Stop complaining and help me look around, Choji," muttered Shikamaru while going through an old trunk in his father's attic. Shikamaru finally found something that caught his interest. "Oh, this might be good!"

"Oh, I know what this is," said Choji, as he was looking at the strange table, "you play chess on it, right?"

"No, dummy, it's a Go board, it's called a Goban. Looks pretty old too. Pops probably never even knew he had it. I bet we could sell it for some pretty good money."

"Are you sure we should do that," asked Choji.

"It's fine. My allowance got cut off because I got a 8% on the last test." The 8% was for writing down his name, which, afterwards, he promptly fell asleep.

"Geez," complained Choji. He knew how smart his friend was, he just didn't understand how he could sabotage himself like that.

"Man, this stain isn't coming off," said Shikamaru as he started rubbing the Goban with his sleeve.

"Huh? What stain, it's clean."

"Are you kidding me? It's dirty!" Shikamaru pointed to the upper right side of the Goban, "See, it looks like blood stains over here."

_Can you see it?_

"That's what I've been saying..."

_Can you hear my voice?_

"Huh?"

_You can hear my voice, can't you?_

"Huh? what are you talking about, I can't see a thing"

Shikamaru stiffened suddenly, going into alert. He might have just entered the Ninja Academy, but that doesn't mean he's helpless. Well, not too helpless anyway. He hasn't even started training to use his family's Shadow Imitation yet.

"Choji, there's someone here," Shikamaru said.

Choji bit into another chip, "Oh, stop being weird, or I'm outta here."

_You Can!_

_You Can!_

_You Can hear me, can't you. Oh, thank God Almighty_

Out of nowhere, an apparishin appeared before him. A tall thin man wearing old-fashioned monk clothes, and holding a white paper fan. Shikamaru falls back, as the ghost moves towards him.

_I will now return.. return to the living world!_

Shikamaru promptly passes out

**_Shikamaru no Go_**

**_

* * *

AN:_**

I wasn't planning on posting this yet... but I haven't heard a word from my beta in about a month...

so anyway- been playing Billy vs. Snakeman -- its like this Naruto parody MMORG... check it out .com/billy/?Sheldon , join my village, join NapalmLuck (there's a link in my profile!)

Also, I'm still not quite happy with this version of Stepping Stones either. I might end up starting all over again...

Might also change the name too...

_**Did you know?**_

Ibn al-Nafis was a 13th century Middle Eastern physician born in Damascus who was famous for being the first physisian to describe pulmonary, capillary and coronary circulation!

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

Stepping Stones: Chapter 2

"So apparently, it was the panda who taught the girl how to read," said the mednin to the Hokage.

"How utterly odd and improbable, but not entirely impossible I guess. So, do we have a name for our mystery girl now," asked the Hokage.

"She says her name is Ranma Saotome. When I asked where she was from, she wasn't too sure. She said she thought she was from a place called Tokyo, but she doesn't remember the last time she's been there. She said that she's been on the road for as long as she can remember. "

"What do you think?"

"Considering what we found from her examination and lab results, it does back up her story of living away from civilization. She was covered in parasites. Thankfully, the milkweed was actually pretty efficient for handling the tapeworms, one of the mednins has taken it upon herself to see how we can use the milkweed as treatment. She also had a bath with a special soap that would get rid of the lice and ticks. We started her on antibiotics and vitamins to take care of malnutrition and anything else we might have missed. It does back up her story of living in the wilderness, or an under developed settlement."

"So, what do we do with her now," asked Gai, who was one of the four people in the room.

"That would depend on what Ranma would want to do. We can provider her shelter for the time being until she recovers, we can supply some foster housing, preferable with a ninja family to look after her," said the Hokage. "Right now, let's just wait and see."

"Do you have anyone in mind to foster her," asked Gai.

The Hokage smiled, "Actually, I do. I thought that the Tamura home would be best. After all, Tenten's father made it to chuunin before taking up his family business, and would be able to keep an eye on her, and Tenten's mother has tutored children, both in and out of the Academy for years. With our written languages so alike, it should be relatively easy for the girl to learn our language. I've already talked to the Tamuras, they don't particularly mind, but want to talk with Tenten first. Of course, they'll also be getting a stipend to help with the cost of care."

Gai nodded, "I see, she can give you her answer tomorrow when we come to pick up a mission."

The mednin then turned to Hana Inuzuka, "Oh yeah, the girl's been wondering when she can see her panda. "

The young vetnin turned to her medical counterpart, "Like all foreign animals coming into the city, the panda will be in quarantine for two weeks before she will be able to see him."

The mednin sighed, "She seemed pretty adamant to talk to it. Can she at least pass him a note," the mednin asked. "Might at least make her a bit less antsy," he mumbled under his breath.

"I don't really see a reason why not," Hana answered.

* * *

Her parents just asked her if she would mind if they fostered that red headed girl that her team found. Apparently she's been raised by that panda she was with, and doesn't speak a word of Nipponese, but can understand its writing. This could only bring her to one conclusion. "She must be a princess," Tenten mused, "exiled from her kingdom with her panda protector." It was the only thing that made sense, really. That would certainly explain the lack of information about where she was from. Of course, the panda would lie to her about where she came from to protect her, until she's old enough to reclaim her kingdom. "Must have been a coup, with her father's last dyeing breath, he must have summoned the panda to take care of his only daughter, to one day take revenge over the evil warlord who murdered her family, and enslaved her people." She seems old enough to have been around during the Whirlpool coup, and her hair is red too. Everybody knows that the Whirlpool royalty has red hair!

"Tenten, are you alright," asked her Tenten's mother, watching as her daughter was making manical giggling noices under her breath.

"Of course I am," Tenten smiled sweetly.

"So, what do you think of us fostering Ranma, until she at least gets back on her feet. The poor thing, probably never even lived with people before."

"Oh, I think it's a great idea," beamed Tenten.

"Well, as long as you think it's alright…" Tenten couldn't be happier! She was going to know royalty after all!

* * *

Ranma was elated. She was finally going to be released from this stupid hospital. They gave her a hard time at first, how was she suppose to know this was a city of ninjas? Every time she tried to get escape, they always found her. It must have been some sort of game to them, chiding the little girl for being naughty. Made her sick, with their condescending reprimands and their lollipops. Granted, the lollipops were delicious, but it was the principle of the matter. Thank god she was in girl form though, because she wouldn't be caught dead sucking on a lollipop as a guy.

At least she got word to her father to stay calm for now. She'd hate to think of what trouble Genma could get into with a city full of ninja. The thought made her shudder.

Ranma had to admit, the girl standing in front of her was pretty cute, she looked at the note that the girl handed to her. "My name is Tenten. My family is fostering you so I'm taking you home. Do you want to be friends?"

Friends. It was almost a foreign concept to Ranma. When was the last time she had a friend, Ucchan? No, wait, there was someone in middle school... couldn't quite place the name. Did she want to be friends?

Ranma just looked at Tenten's smile. Yes, she did want to be friends. She just wished she was a guy at the moment. Without the dragon's whisker, she'll be stuck as a girl for a while though. She lost the dragon whisker, along with her trademark pigtail while that violent tomboy was chasing him... her... him...

The girl grabbed Ranma's wrist and started leading her to her new home.

* * *

Dinner was a quiet affair, they didn't want to make Ranma feel uncomfertable while they ate, and it would have been too much of a hassle to write down a translation just so she could feel included.

"Tommorrow, you'll start on language lessons with my mom," the the note Tenten handed to Ranma as they headed up to her room. "We haven't finished setting up your room so you'll have to sleep with me tonight," said the next note, Ranma was abuot to protest when he noticed that Tenten already started changing. Ranma quickly turned around with a red face, fighting a nosebleed.

* * *

_The next day..._

"Ok, so what's going on," asked Neji. Tenten called a team meeting without Gai-sensei, she was in one of those... moods again. They gathered together at a secluded tea house. Which was not a good sign. It'll probably end up being some girly type of concern, Neji knew it. Probably talk abuot feelings again... or poetry. It was best to just humor her, the faster he could get this over with, the faster he can get away from his team mates and be..,. anywhere that his teamates weren't.

"Well, remember that girl we rescued?"call

"What about her?"

"I think she might be a long lost princess from Whirlpool Country," she said with complete seriousness.

Neji and Lee just stared at each other in complete befuddlement. "Gai-sensei broke her too," he thought, "first Lee, now Tenten... I'm the only one left."

Though, apparently Lee was thinking of something on an entirely different tangent, because he suddenly broke out a grin, _and it was then that Neji knew his true doomed fate_, and replied, quite excitedly, "Yosh! You think so?"

Neji held his head in his hand, with a defeated expression, "Are the both of you crazy?"

Tenten made a placating gester. "Wait, just hear my theory!" Neji didn't say anything, so apparently that meant to go on. He'd make a note of that for future reference. "When Whirlpool fell, the entire royal family was executed, she would have still had been an infant then."

Neji just narrowed his eyes, "So were you, but your nor a princess."

"Well, what if they managed to smuggle someone out. You know, not all of the bodies have been recovered. In fact, it was widely known that his wife was pregnant just before the coup began."

"That proves nothing"

"She has red hair. Its public record that red hair ran in that family's background."

"Lots of people have red hair."

"There was a ninja serving that family that is said to have the panda summons."

"Yosh! A princess," interjected Lee, "it's scarcely believable, but it must be true!"

Neji felt a headache coming on. How did he not see this? He was suppose to be the Hyuuga genius, how could he not see that his team mates were slowly going crazy. Well, Lee didn't have far to go, and Gai was already crazy before they even met, but Tenten was suppose to be his refuge, his ounce of sanity in his otherwise insane team.

Neji had only one choice, "Ok, if we're going to do this, this is how it's going down," he had to contain their insanity before it leaked out to the rest of the village. "We'll run this investigation like a type S-2 investigation. That means utmost secrecy. You tell no one whats going on," Neji said, with a straight face.

"Huh? But why?"

"Because if word gets out, her life could be in danger." Besides, if it was known the rest if his team were bonkers, people would think he was bonkers too...

"Why would her life be in danger? Leaf is the safest village around, nothing going to extinguish the springtime of her youth," proclaimed Lee.

"Idiot. Leaf is a ninja village, among many ninja villages. There are bound to be spies within our ranks. Just like we have spies in all the other great shinobi villages, we would be fools not to assume they wouldn't have spies in ours," proclaimed Neji, sounding fairly believable.

"Yosh! There are spies in our village?"

"Keep it down Lee, and yes, there are spies. Though, more then likely ANBU is already keeping tabs on them, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about. Even if Whirlpool doesn't have their own spy here, knowlegde of this is worth money, so we have to keep this discreate. Untill we know for certain, and have evidence to back it up, we can't tell anyone, and it would be best not to talk about this in public anymore. We'll have to only discuss this in our ussual training area for now. We'll talk more about it tommorrow," said Neji as he dropped some money to pay for his tea before leaving.

* * *

They finished with missions early that day, so Tenten could help settle in her new guest. She must be strong, living in exile all these years with nothing but a panda to keep her company. Tenten briefly wondered what the girl did most of the time, but figured that could wait until later.

First things first though. The girl needed clothes. Apparently she lost all of her things running from shampoo, at least that is what the note said. Maybe their language wasn't exactly alike, after all, she was taught by a panda.

Tenten stopped at the front of one of her favorite stores, and wrote Ranma a note, "You need clothes." She giggled at seeing Ranma's shudder, but complied.

* * *

Ranma groaned. She hated shopping, but she really did need something to wear, her keikogi was cleaned at the hospital, but it would be nice to have something else to wear for once. After what seemed like hours of torture, she finally picked out clothes similar to Tenten's. Except with along red-sleeved shirt.

She didn't really mind though, she was just glad to be out of that stupid hospital, with stupid hospital food and their stupid hospital rules. Even if that did mean (shudder) shopping. Whatever doesn't kill her, will make her stronger, and she refused to be defeated by shopping.

They just finished eating, apparently they have okonomiyaki here. Not as good as Ucchan could make it, but Ranma never saw anyone make okonomiyaki better then him.

It was already dark by the time they left the restaurant, they had a pretty good time there, Ranma practiced using his Nipponese, apparently okonomiyaki was okonomiyaki in both their languages, except they were spelled differently. They got a chance to laugh and talk a little, which was actually kinda nice, in Ranma's opinion. It was already getting dark as they left the restaurant while they headed towards Tenten's house.

Ranma suddenly pushed Tenten towards the ground. Looking back he saw a kunai imbedded on the ground where Tenten fromally stood.

* * *

... and now, Myown Productions presents,

**Alternate Beginnings!**

As per request from Yanslana... every other chapter, I will present my alternate beginnings that I threw out, digitally remastered for your pleasure.

Team Minato:

It was suppose to have been a simple escort mission, a simple merchant from the Village of Swamps to a border trading post to sell his peat. It was suppose to be a cakewalk for their first C-mission. There wasn't suppose to be any missing nin at all, yet there was a three man B-ranked team who was evidently hired by a competitor.

They were just about to overpower them when good ol' Obito managed to kawarmi to the wrong place and managed to get held as a hostage so the missing nins could escape!

Now he was stuck in a mud prison with some red-headed girl who could swear like a mist missing nin.

That was hours ago, though. The girl calmed down since then, but there something telling him to just stay away from that girl. It wasn't killing intent, she didn't even look all that dangerous. It was just a feeling that said... _trouble...._

That was when she turned to him with a grin, "Hey kid..."... _kid? she looked younger then he was... _"I'm about ta break outta this shindig. You wanna come along?" _Break out? There were 3 B-class missing nins guarding the place... _

Just then, a panda appeared from behind some sawgrass.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

Stepping Stones 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2 or Naruto. Resemblance to any Evangalion character is purely coincidental.

It was suppose to be an easy job. Kirigakure, the village hidden within the Mist, has a bounty on any survivor of Uzushiogakure, any Whirlpool ninjas. If they were willing on paying for a Whirlpool ninja, then he was sure they would pay a scroll full for a Whirlpool Princess. If Kirigakure wanted something, you can be sure that Iwagakure would want it too. Then there was that new village... Otogakure that he heard about. Might be worth it to see if they want a piece of her as well. Yes, when he gets his hands on the little bitch, Tetsuo could right his own ticket. Briefly, he wondered if it was worth getting declared a missing-nin over, but the chance to make a quick, easy buck was just too much to resist!

It was suppose to be an easy job.

He aimed for the genin walking with her. Eliminate the greater threat before going after the target. Years of Konoha protocols and procedures ingrained in his brain, it came to him as second nature. He followed her after overhearing her talking with her teammates about this S2 assignment of hers. This is why you don't give genin S2 assignments, not that he was ever given one, but if he had, he would never talk about it at a tea house! Really, its not going to be much of a secret if you talk about it in a public place that is known to serve ninjas. Old man Hokage (not that he ever had the nerve to call him that out loud) must be going senile.

It was suppose to be easy, just grab and go, he just wished somebody told the little brat that.

The Princess... Ranko, if he got the name right... was obviously trained. No genin should be able to move that fast. It was almost unfair. He was a chuunin for crying out loud, he shouldn't be having this much trouble with a civilian. If she would just slow down a little, give him a chance to use some ninjutsu...

Well, the days was certainly starting to look up. He thought he was going to die of boredom, first from the language lessons, then from the shopping. Nothing gets the blood flowing like someone out to kill you!

Ranma's heart raced, as only a life and death situation could make your heart race. First, she had to get the girl out of the way, she may be a ninja but she probably never had anybody try to kill her before. Well, maybe she has, but Ranma knew for a fact that he probably had more people after his hide. That Amazon Village at least should have made sure of that!

That didn't matter right now, someone tried to kill her... he didn't seem to be very good at it... at least not compared to an Amazon. After weeks of being chased by that purple-haired chick, this assassination attempt was almost a let down. He was slow, and seemed to be distracted. It was almost unfair, so Ranma did what anyone else would do in this situation... he showed off...

That flip kick that he just used on the guys chin... he would normally not use that against someone trying to kill him. Normally, whomever was trying to kill him was either good enough that it could be easily countered, or was too weak and it would probably snap his neck.

Ranma wrote him off as a real threat and decided to practice... akido? Muy Thai? Tae kwon do? Well, he never tried capoeira in a real fight before, and as far as show boating, it was certainly pretty. That girl, Tenten was sure to be impressed!

After landing a spinning back kick to his opponent's jaw, he went into a ginga, a rocking back and forth motion that is fundamental to capoeira. His opponent shook his head of some cobwebs and started doing something with his hands...

What he should have been doing was concentrate on was the foot heading towards his face. The guy in the funny vest was knocked back to into the side of some noodle shop, and Ranma was about to kick a man while he was down. Anything Goes, after all. The blade pointed at her face, though, disputed that call, or maybe it was the blade poking at her ribs... or the blade poking the back of her neck... "Well shit," thought Ranma, "maybe I should have paid a little more attention myself," she thought as someone twisted her arm and took her down to the ground.

Squirrel was the first one on seen to the disturbance at the market place. Apparently an unknown entity infiltrated the village. She must have blown her cover because a chuunin tried to apprehend her. Squirrel immediately radioed in the rest of his squad and tried to isolate the unknown ninja, before bringing her down hard. Squirrel, himself was a taijutsu expert, not nearly as good as some in the village, but he prided himself on being able to recognize different styles, and their variations in correlation to their geographic demography, some would call him a bit of a taijutsu otaku. He, however, didn't recognize the style the girl was using, but whatever it was, she was an expert at it. That much he could tell.

The squad leader, Mouse, tried to set up a parameter around the scene until her Captain, Penguin could make the scene. After the parameter was secure, she had to make sure that the infiltrator was secure and immobile. Badger brought down the girl, hard, and she went in immediately to put restraints on the foreign ninja.

Tenten recovered in disbelief, ANBU was arresting the wrong person! She tried to run up to explain what happened when she was stopped by a purple-haired ANBU wearing a penguin mask. "I'm sorry," she said to Tenten, "but this area is off-limits, for your own safety, I'm going to have to ask you to back away."

"I'm not some civilian," cried Tenten, indignant, "I'm a ninj-"

"Well, little ninja," Penguin said, as if she was talking to some kid civilian, "I know you want to help out like a real person and all, but let the big ninjas handle it right now. I know you're all excited and want to help out and all, but I'm afraid this might be just a little too dangerous for you."

"But-"

"Maybe in a few years, when you get a little more experience, you can help out with some crowd control."

"But Penguin-san..."

"Oh, you can just call me Pen-Pen. Now scoot along little missy, I bet your jounin sensei must be worried about you!"

"But..."

"That's a good little girl."

"But..."

"Okay, bah bye now"

Tenten, somehow was turned completely around and get patted away... on the butt... like some academy student... like some pre-academy student being scooted away...

When she turned around, the ANBU were gone... with the princess...

Tetsuo was thanking the gods for his good fortune, as he was running for dear life. It was certainly a lucky break for him that the ANBU totally mistook the situation for what it actually was... but he knew that it wouldn't last for long, so he had to get as far away from Konoha as possible, and out of Fire Country. River country would be the safest route to go, it's closer, and there were less patrols to run into, but Mist would at least pay for information regarding the Whirlpool princess. In the end, he decided to go south, to Star country. It was a little bit more dangerous, there being a lot of missing nin in the area between Star, and Fire countries, thus a lot more patrols, but once he was in Star country, he can find passage to Mist. He briefly contemplated heading east, but that would have been pure suicide, especially considering the information he was carrying. Although it would have been faster, there were too many loyalists for his taste, if his purpose was exposed.

Ranma was sitting in a dark room with her hands tied behind a chair. She would have liked to say that this was the first time she was in this sort of situation, unfortunately, her traveling companion was Genma. Ranma assumed that the two masked ninjas were trying to play "good cop, bad cop", but she wasn't really sure which were which. The red haired ninja wearing the... rat mask... maybe it was suppose to be a raccoon... she said something sweetly in whatever language they spoke, before slamming both hands on the old grimy bloodstained table and yelled something at her. A little spittle went into her eye.

"You know, I don't understand a word you're saying," she said. Rat-face backhanded her before yelling something else.

The black-haired male ninja wearing a mask with a picture of a moose on it came up behind her and said something in a reasonable tone. Then he started cracking his knuckles.

A ninja dressed in green with bushy brows rushed into the office of the Hokage, followed by Tenten. "Hokage-sama, a grave tragedy of justice has transpired concerning the young foreign flower just beginning to blossom!"

"How do you mean?"asked the Hokage.

"Sir," Tenten interruped, "we were attacked earlier by a chuunin, and then Ranma was taken away by some ANBU!"

The Hokage tensed up, "ANBU? Can you describe these ANBU?"

"From my cute little student's description, it was Mouse, Squirrel, and Badger. Captain Penguin was on scene too."

The Hokage's features changed from tense to tense and annoyed. If Captain Penguin was involved, it meant which group of ANBU were involved. "I see, I probably should get her released before they get over zealous."

"Umm, Sir, there's probably something else you should know," Tenten said nervously. "Well, the chuunin who attacked us escaped, but I think I might know the reason for the assault."

The Hokage listened to the young genin's accounts on the failed kidnapping of the supposed princess and frowned. The evidence of her parentage was severely lacking. There wasn't any proof that she was even from Whirlpool. Yet, if it got out that Whirlpool royalty still existed...

"Emu!" An ANBU guard shimmered and appeared from a dark corner of the Hokage's office. "Get a team together. Find out who this chuunin is and bring him in for questioning. Have his teammates brought in for questioning. I want a review of all their missions for the last year." Emu disappeared in a swirl of leaves. "Now, lets go see about releasing our guest."

Ranma was starting to get pissed off. First of all, the other guy started it. He didn't do nuthin'. Then these two idiot cops start interrogating him, they haven't even figured out that they don't speak the same language yet! He was almost finished picking his handcuffs with a piece of ki-hardened hair. Then he'll show them what it's like to be slapped around for a while.

This chick was sure tough to crack, but Moose knew it was only a matter of time. He probably would have already cracked her, if Badger wasn't being such a bitch. As usual, she was cramping his style. It was his turn to be the bad cop, yet here she was, acting her usual bitchy self. "Oh, just drop the stupid act already, we ain't buying it. Give us your name, rank, and what village you're comin' from," this chick was starting to piss him off too. Must be the red hair, something in the hair causes them to be bitchy. Maybe because all they see is red, day in day out makes them angry. That must be it, whenever he takes a look at Badger, he can't help but get angry. "If you don't start talking, I'm gonna have to get rough with you."

"Oh, that's just great, I can see her quaking in her panties," said the other bitch in the room, she was standing behind him. Moose quickly pondered the wisdom of having any bitch take his backside, but hoped the view might take an edge off her bitchiness. "That hasn't worked so far, geez, you are completely useless, aren't you, Mr. 'its my turn to be bad cop.'" Well, it was his turn to be the bad cop."Perhaps if you weren't such a wimp, your manliness would have compelled her to talk by now. But that hasn't happened here, has it?" It didn't work. God, she is such a bitch.

"Geeze, do you ever shut up," I yelled at her as I turned around, "Besides, I haven't seen you do any better, your bitchiness!" Ha, bitchiness... like "your highness," but bitchier. "Perhaps she recognized what sort of bitch you are and left her speechless!"

She grabbed me by the shirt. I'm sure she was gonna yell something or kick me in the nuts. Fortunately, a table hit me over the head...

This was his chance, the two twits were arguing with each other. Ranma slipped off the cuffs and bounced the table off the guys head, then shoving him forward into the girl, toppling them. The guy's head happened to land between the tomboy's legs, and she pretty much knocked the guy out for him. She was so incensed with punishing her partner, that she never noticed the foot coming towards her face.

Ranma sighed. That was too easy. He hoped that would have been more of a challenge. Well, getting out was going to be tougher at least. He didn't think anyone was on the other side of the door, if there was, he'd have known it by now. Someone would have relieved these two idiots a while ago. Ranma tried the door, but it was locked. Well, he could just kick it down.

Only his kick never hit the door. It was caught by some old guy wearing a funny red hat.

Author's notes:

OK! So, I sorta finished this chapter about 3 months ago, and then promptly forgotten about it. I haven't heard anything from any of my betas, which makes me wonder if I in fact... actually have any betas...

So yeah, need betas... and thus, this chapter is still unbeta'd... after looking at the first two chapters, they look like they also need to get beta'd.

Seem to be stuck on a scene in Orange Blossom as well. I'll need betas' for that one as well.

On a final note, I'm going to continue the original Stepping Stones, no naturally, I'm gonna need a new name for this fic. Any suggestions?

Grab bag section!

Harry Potter

"Comrade Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" - actually, I just reread Fire's "Red Moon" and thought that there are no RedHarry stories out there. Think about it, a Red Harry would be even worse for the Ministry then a Dark Harry. Considering Harry's upbringing, a movement of equal distribution wouldn't be so far off. Harry's family is a perfect metaphor for a corrupted nihilistic society that rewards bad behavior. I can just hear Harry call Vernon a capitalistic pig. Siriusly, though, I always felt that the socio-politico state of magical Britain was brewing for a revolution. All the ingredients are there, persecuted minorities, a corrupt government with a puppet figure head with just a few "old and noble" clans holding the majority of the power. Not to mention imprisonment without trial, lack of due process, and officials without clear oversight.

Evangalion

Haven't thought up a name for it yet, but it's been an idea that's been churning in my head for a while. Post 12th angel- when unit 1 spits out Shinji... it doesn't quite spit out Shinji... It spitted out Shinji, but in his mother's 16 yr old body. That's gotta mess up a boy. Though... his father might start to pay more attention to him, at least...

Or, the other way around... Unit 1 spits out Yui in Shinji's body, which, I think would be even more messed up! Either way, it messes up Gendo's scenario.


End file.
